Biosolids a Potential Source of PFASRobinson Township, MI (1/9/19) - The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality will begin to search for the source of PFAS contamination in Robinson Township and biosolids is among the possible sources. Biosolids application sites have been discovered close to some wells with contaminated drinking water. “Last month, Michigan’s Science Advisory Panel recommended the DEQ conduct research to find out where the chemicals go when a biosolid is applied to land.” Courtney Carignan, an environmental health scientist at Michigan State University who studies PFAS contamination shares some of her research findings related to PFAS’s movement in soils in this article.Town Hall Set to Discuss PFAS ContaminationNarrowing the Search

Siletz River Tests Fail to Detect ContaminantsLincoln County, OR (1/10/19) - “A group of Lincoln County residents from the group Save Our Siletz River sent samples of the river’s sediment to an independent lab in Washington, hoping to find out if there were any dangerous chemicals from biosolids runoff in the river that sustains so much life in the east part of the county.” Lab results show that of the 23 chemicals tested, either the contaminants weren’t present in the samples tested or they were present below detectable limits.

We will have to track the development of this research projectPellet, Bioenergy Projects in North Carolina Receive FundingNorth Carolina State University, NC (1/21/19) - A research project at North Carolina State University’s Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department was among 4 projects that received funding from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services under the Bioenergy Research Initiative. “NCSU’s Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department was awarded funding for a project tilted “Potential for Integrating Swine Lagoon Sludge into the N.C. Bioenergy Sector.” The two-year project will develop and evaluate the performance of sludge removal and drying systems and characterize the removed, dried sludge as a soil amendment and as a combustion feedstock.”